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February 20, 2004

Q&A: A Call to Action

With Senate passage of a massive $318 billion transportation bill, the measure now faces new tests as House Republicans labor to move their own version and President Bush threatens to veto the long-delayed legislation. But Senate Minority Whip Harry Reid (D-Nev.), ranking member of the Environment and Public Works subcommittee on transportation and infrastructure, had a message for opponents of the chamber’s version of the bill when he joined Roll Call Executive Editor Morton Kondracke for a conversation on the election-year battle, noting that if the House GOP is “concerned about the economy,” they “should rush to pass this bill,” and saying flatly of Bush: “I dare him to veto it.”

Transportation System Needs Help

“Good roads cost money. Poor roads cost more.” Those eight words capture the simple truth facing Congress and the Bush administration as we debate the future of America’s highway, bridge and transit programs for the remainder of this decade.

Congestion Threatens to Strangle America’s Cities

Transportation congestion is threatening the livability of our great cities. According to the Texas Transportation Institute, traffic congestion in 2001 cost $69.5 billion (including 3.5 billion hours of delays and 5.7 billion gallons of excess fuel consumption) in 75 large metropolitan areas alone. This congestion costs each resident in those 75 cities $520 per year. Families are losing what precious little time they have together because of time spent in traffic on the way to and from work, picking up the kids at day care or running the endless errands that seem a part of life in today’s society.

New Energy Bill Faces Tough Road

Just before the Presidents Day recess, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) began the process of placing a new energy bill (S.2095) on the Senate calendar. Once this process is complete, the bill will be available for consideration by the full Senate. It is hard to see, though, how this “new” bill will move Congress closer to enacting energy legislation. House Republicans reportedly will not accept a new comprehensive bill from the Senate, and S. 2095 apparently costs 50 percent to 75 percent more than the Bush administration says it will support. Passing such a bill could well set off a protracted finger-pointing match between the two houses. That would stymie forward progress on any of the provisions contained in S. 2095, even the ones that have broad bipartisan support in both Houses. I do not think such an outcome would be in the national interest.

Reworked Bill Cuts Cost But Still Provides Jobs

My new, leaner energy bill creates more than 800,000 new jobs and does more to revitalize rural America than any legislation passed by Congress in the past 30 years — at less than half the cost of the old energy bill.

Renewable Fuels Provide Benefits

As legislators, we learn to live with the near misses. Many a good bill died on the doorstep of passage, sometimes for good reasons and sometimes the casualty of politics. But in my experience in both the House and Senate, I am hard pressed to think of something that has been so tantalizing, so close within our reach, and yet so elusive as the establishment of a renewable fuels standard.

Ethanol Subsidy Hurts Farms, Environment

From the days of the Reagan presidency, the conservative approach to energy policy has been straightforward: Create broad incentives for investment in the infrastructure required to generate safe, clean energy; keep a level playing field between the various sources of supply; set sound standards for protecting the environment; and then get the government out of the way. Allowing markets to set fair prices for an important commodity drives capital to the most promising sectors, encourages innovation and fairly rewards productivity gains.

Air Security Must Stay a Step Ahead

Baghdad. Boston. Manila. Mombasa. New York. Paris. Washington. The events of recent years illustrate one sobering point: Terrorism continues to pose a global threat to civil aviation.